How to write a song in Ableton:(Master Template): Flatten & Arrange – Part 8

How to write a song in Ableton:(Master Template): Flatten & Arrange – Part 8

The 8th part of my How to write a song in Ableton Live using the Ableton Master Template is ready to go. If you haven’t yet watched the first part of writing a song in Ableton, you’ll want to Start Here

This isn’t necessarily a walkthrough of the Ableton Master Template as I only planning on using what I need to make a tune, instead of trying to fit every tool into this video. I have a series of videos if you want a detailed walkthrough of the template.

In the video below I share the following:

Freezing & Flattening CPU heavy tracks

It is no secret that some of the tool in the Master Template can be CPU heavy, so I find it important to convert those midi tracks to Audio. By Freezing and Flattening, you’re not only able to save CPU from the instrument, but it also includes the effects in the audio, so those are no longer needed. As a side note, it makes sense to automate settings tweaks into longer midi clips or creating several variations before converting to audio, this way you have more flexibility with the part.

The fastest way to create new scenes

So now that you have a bunch of clips in your session window, it’s time to organize these parts into the building blocks of your song. You do this by creating Scenes. The easiest way that I have found to do this is to play all the clips for the “biggest part of your track” incorporating the most the most clips you plan on using. Once they are all playing you’ll hold down Command/Shift/i (control for PC) and this will create a new scene with all the playing clips. Then start creating the different stages of your song from that (intro, bass drop, breakdown, meat of the track, etc). Don’t worry too much about how each part will be used, if it sounds good, create a new scene for it.

Getting your arrangement started

Now you simply organize your scenes in a basic order from most simplistic to most complex. After that is done, you can record into the Arrangement window choosing a new scene every 8, 16 or 32 bars. Don’t worry if the structure isn’t perfect. You can edit everything later. Right now, your first step is to start thinking of your groove as a song. Getting things into the arrangement window is the start of that mental shift.